A Network-Attached Storage (NAS) system is one of the best means to back up data. Sadly, even the best NAS setups are susceptible to unforeseen errors like running out of space mid-operation or sudden drive failures. In such events, your best bet is to manually remove the old HDD and slot in a brand-new one.
If you’re unfamiliar with NAS setups and aren’t sure how you should go about replacing the drives, read on for everything you need to know to complete the process safely.
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I’ve used TrueNAS Core for this guide, but the overall procedure should be the same for most NAS systems, including pre-built setups.
Choosing the replacement drive
Before you order a new hard drive, you should ensure it has the same or greater capacity than the one you plan to remove. A typical NAS system won’t accept a lower-capacity drive unless you rebuild the entire array from scratch, which can take more than a couple of days.
If you’re using your NAS for anything other than archiving old data that you won’t update in a while, you should stick to CMR drives and avoid choosing an SMR HDD. Although SMR drives are relatively cheaper than their CMR counterparts, their low write speeds make them terrible for workflows where data stored on the NAS needs to be constantly updated.
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How to upgrade your NAS with a higher capacity drive
If you’re running out of space on your NAS, you can copy the contents of an old HDD to a high-capacity storage drive. Keep in mind that this method will only work if the older drive is accessible from the NAS interface. So, you should skip ahead if your drive is faulty and you can’t access its contents.
Installing the new drive
Since you’re using an internal HDD, you’ll have to open the NAS to slot in the new drive.
- Turn off your NAS and unplug its AC power adapter.
- If you’re using a PC as a NAS, remove the side panels to gain access to the hard drives and motherboard SATA connectors.
- Install the replacement drive into the mounting bracket and fasten it with the HDD screws.
- Plug the SATA data and power cables into the new drive before slotting it into the NAS.
Creating a storage pool on the new drive
After you’ve plugged in the drive, it’s time to fire up the NAS and set up a new storage pool.
- Open the TrueNAS Web GUI on another system and sign in with your username and password.
- Navigate to the Pools submenu under Storage and click on the Add button.
- Select the Create Pool option.
- Give a name to the storage pool and send the drive you want to use for the pool to the Data VDevs section.
- Enable the Force checkbox and tap Confirm before pressing Continue on the pop-up window.
- Press the Create button, check the Confirm option once again on the new window, and select Create Pool.
Replicating the files on the new drive
Finally, it’s time to copy all the data from the old drive to the new HDD using the Replication Tasks facility.
- Head to the Replication Tasks tab under the Tasks section and click on Add.
- Click on the dropdown menu under Source Location and pick On this System.
- Repeat the process for the Destination Location.
- Select the storage pool on the old drive as the Source Location and pick the newly created storage pool as the Destination Location.
- Click on Next.
- Set Run Once as the Replication Schedule and press Start Replication.
Once the status of the replication task changes from pending to finishedall your files will become accessible on the new drive.
How to replace a faulty drive in your NAS
Although the Replication Task method is a quick way to upgrade the capacity of your NAS, it won’t work if the old drive is faulty or damaged. In this scenario, the best course of action is to set the original drive to offline mode and rebuild the array on the replacement HDD.
Switching the old drive offline
The first step in the drive replacement procedure involves changing the status of the damaged HDD from online to offline. Doing so will allow you to safely unmount the drive without losing any data.
- Launch the TrueNAS Web GUI or whatever GUI you have.
- Navigate to the Pools sub-menu under the Storage tab.
- Click on the Cog icon in the upper-right corner and select Status.
- After expanding the storage pool, click on the Three Dots next to the faulty drive and choose Offline.
- Toggle the Confirm checkbox and press Offline.
Rebuilding the storage pool on the new drive
The next step involves slotting the replacement drive into the NAS. You can follow the steps I mentioned earlier to pop open the NAS and install the new HDD. Once your NAS has the replacement drive, it’s time to rebuild the storage pool via the NAS interface. To do so:
- Navigate to the Pool Status page.
- Click on the Three Dots adjacent to the Offline drive and select Replace.
- Choose the newly slotted drive as the Member disk.
- Enable the Force checkbox and select Replace Disk.
Depending on the speed of the new HDD and the amount of data stored within the old drive, the resilvering process can range from a couple of hours to a few days.
Does your NAS need a replacement drive?
If you’ve followed all the steps properly, your NAS should support the new HDD and work without any hiccups. Fortunately, modern hard drives are pretty reliable, so you won’t need to repeat this procedure on a monthly or even yearly basis. So, unless your drives are a decade old, or your NAS projects involve continuous read/write tasks, you can rest assured knowing that your hard drives will hold up for quite some time.
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